dust busting nightmare

[jetcode]

The scans I am getting are just clogged with dust. What are the techniques do you use to reduce dust in a scan?

Thanks in advance,
Joe

[Daniel_Buck]

I use a large 'blow bulb/rocket' and give the glass a good puffing of air and the down-side of the negative just before I place the negative down. I do the same with the next negative (I scan two 4x5s at a time), then I blow off the lid and the top of the negatives in the fully opened position, then just before the lid closes all the way (only a few inches open) I give another good puffing of air in there to make sure nothing settles down on the film as I close the lid.

That seems to work quite well for my 4x5s.

If the dust is stuck to the negatives so that a puff of air doesn't loosen the dust, I suppose some sort of soft brush could work as well?

[Ron Marshall]

I brush the glass with an anti-static brush and then gently close the cover. Before I began using the brush it was a spotting nightmare for me also.

[Saulius]

Aside from brushing and spraying with canned air before scanning, both negative and the scanner, I try to minimize the dust from collecting on the scanner itself by keeping a plastic cover on it at all times when not in use.
You can also look here:
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=20260&highlight=dust
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/dust-spotting.html

[Don Hutton]

Wet Scanning helps a whole lot...

[Doug Dolde]

This is kind of a lousy answer because I haven't actually tried one since i send all my film out for scanning.

But Kinetronics makes several sizes of anti static film cleaners. I'd look at the KSE models.

http://www.kinetronics.com

[Ed Richards]

Use a big anti-static brush and brush the scanner plate each time as well. I have a 12" brush that I keep by the scanner.

[David_Senesac]

A computer servicing blower vacuum with a concentrator attachment to focus air works far better than any of the usual canned air products. I've been cleaning my optical parts and film for a couple decades using something like this:

http://www.demco.com/CGI-BIN/LANSAWEB?PROCFUN+LWDCWEB01+LWDC065+PRD+ENG+FUNCPARMS+ZZWGOTOPG(A0800):BLK921&STA0000


...David Senesac

[walter23]

The scans I am getting are just clogged with dust. What are the techniques do you use to reduce dust in a scan?

Thanks in advance,
Joe

I keep my desk / work area clean and try to dust it often. I also have a big rubberized printer cover that fits over my V750 and keep that in place all the time when I'm not scanning. I also keep all my negative carriers in their original plastic bags in a clean drawer of a desk near my scanning area, and only take them out briefly when I'm using them.

And of course I use a rubber bulb blower on the glass and negative and holder before scanning (and after, before putting everything away).

[Ben Chase]

The scans I am getting are just clogged with dust. What are the techniques do you use to reduce dust in a scan?

Thanks in advance,
Joe

Depends on how you are scanning.... If you're wet-mounting with Kami or other types of mounting fluid, dust typically isn't a major issue (at least in my experience).

If you are not using a wet-mounting system, I recommend you try cleaning the transparency or negative with PEC-12 immediately before scanning. That should get rid of fingerprints, dust, etc.

Dust is the bane of all large-format photographers, there is only so much you can do, but if the room you are scanning in has a major dust problem, I'd recommend keeping the scanner wrapped in plastic at all times. I did this with my Nikon Coolscan 9000 when I was shooting medium format, and I never had dust as a problem after that.

[jetcode]

Thanks everyone, my scanner is covered but not in plastic. That I will have to have made unless someone knows of a cover for a Cezanne. I have a air filtration system running to keep dust down as much as possible. I still have some things to do to take care of this problem. I ordered some anti-static clothes and have the brush. I wannt to get either Kami or Prazio for wet mount scan tests. There is little dust in the exposure. It's mostly from the scanner bed.

Joe

[Ted Harris]

Strange, I don't have that kind of serious problems. A couple of thoughts:

1) It may be a processing problem. Now tha tyou have a high end scanner you can see a lot of gunk that was never visible to you before.

2) Try using a small high power computer vacuum on your scanner. Who knows how much dust it gathered before you got it?

3) The air filtration system could be hurting rather than helping if it is using any kind of a blower or fan.

4) Use a good film cleaner like Prazio and their anti static cloths.

[Henry Ambrose]

Joe,

What is the humidity at your location?
If its really dry you will have more dust problems.

A plastic cover may only make this worse if it attracts dust by way of a static charge.

If your film is coming back from the lab dirty - they have a problem. There is no excuse for dirty film straight from a lab. If its clean when you get it then don't handle it until you lay it on the scanner. Leave it in the sleeve.

Blowing dry air across your film or gear may only cause more static charge. Look at blowers/vacs that remove the charge.

Like this:

http://www.gndzero.com/neutralization_blowoff_gun_ionizers.html

[jetcode]

My film is fine however I have NOT cleaned my scanner at all so the tray is likely the culprit. I have anti-static wipes on the way and will be investing in Prazio. I live in the country just north of San Francisco. It is a bit drier here but not as dry as inland and more dry then the East Coast for sure.

[Brian Ellis]

I wipe off the scanner glass with an old tee shirt. I lightly brush the negative on both sides with an anti-static brush and then blow some canned air over both sides. It takes about thirty seconds to do it all and my dust problems are minimal though as Ben said, you'll never eliminate every last speck. One of the many beauties of digital printing is the ease with which dust spots can be removed before printing. I don't worry nearly as much about dust on the negatives as I did when I printed in a darkroom.

[keithwms]

My scanner is kept in a glass-doored cabinet. I clean it with a polonium antistatic brush every now and then. The negs and chromes have to be cleanroom-clean before I take them into that cabinet, and I brush the sleeves with the antistatic brush. I also maintain a bit higher humidity in the room during the winter, using a humidifier.

[David_Senesac]

...3) The air filtration system could be hurting rather than helping if it is using any kind of a blower or fan....

Ted brings up something I should have mentioned. The reason one needs to use a computer servicing vacuum instead of just any type of vacuum with a blower option is that such vacuums have commercial level air filtration at the air intake end so one will not be shooting dust bullets at the film. It is true blowing air may increase static potentials. Thus unless the film is being cleaned right at the scanner, one ought to have a clean plastic sleeve to immediately put film into so it doesn't attract more dust. Of course one ought blow off the sleeve first before putting cleaned film in.

Generally films are rather soft materials that easily scratch. Long ago when I used to send in 35mm Kodachromes to various places, I often noticed they came back with subtle scratch marks where users had apparently used their favorite brushes. Brushes they apparently didn't think left a mark. I would challenge anyone using a brush to hold up a newly processed clean transparency to a strong light and look at it with a loupe both before and after using brushes. I'd bet most will see the wisdom of using compressed air that most professionals use. ...David

[George Stewart]

I'll second the KSE product - oustanding. They are worth every penny.

[walter23]

I'll second the KSE product - oustanding. They are worth every penny.

And at only $1000 a pop, an accessible alternative to that pesky compressed air and rubber bulb blower scenario! ;)

[john collins]

I use an air compressor made for an airbrush. Because of the fact that this is a low pressure diaphram compressor without a tank, I have not had any moisture or oil spot problems. It works pretty well and avoids the expense of canned air.

[Wally]

I keep one of those electrostatic air purifiers going in the room I use for loading my film holders. These things don't capture dust, they just remove the positive charge from the particles, wich tends to make the dust particles in the air stop floating around, and just fall to the floor. Obviously, the thing shouldn't be pointed at the work surface.

[uniB]

The problem I have is when I remove the film from the plastic sleeves, this seem to cause I load of static which attracts every spec of dust in the room! I'll have to have a look round for a large anti-static brush, anyone know where I can get one online in the UK?

[Jon Shiu]

Ilford used to make an orange antistatic cloth. Maybe it is still available?

Jon